Bravo Squad - Operation Takedown
by nub4lyfe21
Summary: Bravo Squad Series #2. During the Battle of Geonosis, a Republic Commando squad is pulled out for a secret operation hastily organised by a Republic Intelligence Agent acting on orders from the Chancellor. Prequel to the Desertion of Bravo Squad.
1. Chapter 1: The Day It Started

_Author's Notes:_

 _The Prequel for Bravo Squad is here. Straight outta Kamino, the Squad sees some action before being pulled out of Combat for a Special Assignment.  
Also, I recommend that you read The Desertion of Bravo Squad before you read this. It's up to you, I ain't forcing you.  
Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm, I only own the laptop this was written on.  
This Fanfic is influenced by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss._

* * *

 _"No, Major Kofer. I need a Commando Squad assigned for this case. Keep it a strictly need-to-know operation.  
The last thing we want is the Jedi Council investigating this. If we succeed, then my plans will become a reality."_

 _-_ Chancellor Palpatine, an hour after obtaining Emergency Powers

* * *

 **Date: 22BBY, the start of the Clone Wars**

"Move! Wake up now! Get your gear in order! You're shipping out!"

A Clone Lieutenant practically kicked down the door of Bravo Squad's quarters, causing Nuts to jump back in fright. The ten year old, who looked twenty due to the growth acceleration, had been kneeling over his footlocker, stuffing more and more of those damn warra nuts into his mouth. No wonder Hoffer had heard munching noises in his dreams.

Falco jumped off his bunk, asking the Lieutenant what was going on. Behind him in the hallway, several Clone Troopers, ranging from ARCs and Commandos down to ordinary Troopers were rushing back and forth, causing Cryer, who was rubbing his eyes as he sat up in his bunk, to feel dizzy.

"I have no idea what is going on, Sergeant. All I know is that we are being deployed at this very moment. And no, I have no idea where we're going. Get your brothers into their gear. They got larties transporting men to the Assault Ships," he glanced down at Nuts, who was still staring back as nuts slowly fell out of his mouth, "just… meet at the landing pads. Bravo is assigned to the… RAS Prosecutor."

"Roger that, sir," Falco saluted the officer as he rushed back into the hallway. Falco looked back at the squad, who, to his amazement, were still not moving.

"What the kriff are you all doing?! Everyone, you heard the _vod_ , change into your _shabla_ gear now! And Nuts, stop stuffing your face."

Nuts instantly spat out the warra nuts on the floor, which caused Cryer to moan in pain at the loss of such good food. The men, who had already practiced the drill over and over again after Vau had burst into their dorm room in the middle of the night with a water hose and sprayed all over them, before telling them that Bravo was to run the obstacle course immediately with full packs, giving them only three minutes to change.

Within ten minutes, they were down at the landing pads. The rain splashed down over Bravo's armor. Falco looked around the deck, noting that a few Commando Squads had personalized their armor. He saw Delta, with Boss standing out in the open. He saw each of them board different larties with a Clone Trooper. He then snapped back to reality as one larty landed in front of them before a Sergeant began ordering all of them to board it.

"Falco, I just realized something," he heard Cryer whisper to him over the Squad's comm as they clambered onto the Gunship with as much gear as they could carry, "None of the Sergeants are out here. Look around, Vau, Bralor, even Skirata's not up. Do you think they know?"

Falco had nothing to say, remaining silent until Hoffer snapped a joke randomly.

"Vau's probably shoving that water hose up his _gett'se_ , tasting it in his mouth."

* * *

The hangar of the Prosecutor was bustling with acvitivity. Bravo Squad had practically no space to put down and inspect their gear. Clone Troopers were running around, turning the dark grey floor of the hangar into a sea of white plastoid. They were checking their DCs, raising them into the air to make sure the inside of the barrels were clean. No one wanted their rifles exploding in their hands, or jamming in the middle of combat.

Falco checked his rifle. The DC-17 was a work of art, costing more than the regular grunts' DC-15 rifles. Even the Commandos' standard pistol, the DC-15s, was more expensive as it had unlimited rounds, pausing to charge back to full strength. It may not sound like much, but if your rifle ran out of ammo in the middle of a firefight, then your pistol would be your lifesaver.

As the explosives expert, Hoffer had run off to look for the Quartermaster. He was asking – no, _insisting_ \- for the extra explosives, as he was certain they were going to spend a few days behind enemy lines. Even Scorch, from Delta, was standing next to him, causing the poor Quartermaster to feel small and puny compared to the big, looming figures in Katarn Armor. Even though the hangar was filled with the sounds of rifles being charged, Falco could still here Hoffer shouting.

"I insist on the extra explosives, _ner vod_ , because there is nothing better than the sound of shrapnel flying across the room, especially when you're starting to go crazy from the lack of human contact besides your squad for a few days. Isn't that right, Scorch?" to which Scorch nodded his head, looking at the explosives as though it was a child's favorite toy and not a destructive device.

Suddenly, the ship started to vibrate madly, as though it was possessed. Equipment fell to the floor while men rushed to the edges of the hangar. Many of them knew it would be the last time they would see Kamino. To the ordinary grunts, it was their homeworld. To the Commandos, however, they were glad to be leaving it.

"I swear," Cryer muttered from behind Falco as the ship finally lurched in to hyperspace, "I wouldn't mind seeing that Aiwha-bait homeworld burnt to slag if it weren't for all the little Clones on it."

Though he didn't say it out loud, the Squad Leader silently agreed with the Sniper.

* * *

"All troopers, report to the gunships. We've broken through the Geonosis blockade. This is not a drill, I repeat, this is not a drill."

The Prosecutor broke through the atmosphere of Geonosis, hovering a few kilometres above the surface. Bravo boarded one of the Gunships they were assigned to with a few other Commando squads from Vau's unit. They nodded at each other, turning to one another to give Keldabe handshakes. They had trained for ten years for this, and now they were entering the combat zone. Nothing could prepare them for what was coming next.

The Gunship dropped out of the Prosecutor. As it straightened out, the first thing that Falco noticed was how quiet it was. He checked if his helmet's comm was working, and it was. The men in the Gunship were nervous as hell. The door of the larty slipped open, allowing them to see the combat for the first time, which gave Falco an adrenaline rush.

AT-TEs were stomping towards the massive droid army. The Trade Federation ships were surrounded by a line of Battle droids, which gave Falco a jolt. He hadn't expected there to be _so_ many of them. There were practically thousands of them firing at the AT-TEs who were trying to destroy the Federation ships before they could take off.

The Gunship finally landed next to a Mobile Base Unit. Bravo and the four other squads jumped out. They landed next to a Clone Commander, who identified himself as CC-6546, nicknamed Ponds. He rushed them off to another incoming larty. The man who jumped out was carrying a lightsabre, which blazed a bright purple compared to the dull red sand.

"Sir. I have five special Commando units awaiting your orders, sir," Ponds informed the Jedi General, who immediately ran into the thick of combat.

Ponds turned to look at the five Commando squads. They were still standing there, not sure what to do because they hadn't received any orders. He angrily gestured at the General who was jumping and slicing any droid that moved.

"What are you waiting for? Follow the General you fools!" He blasted as he pushed Falco ahead. Cursing under their breath, the Commandos raced up to Windu, joining him in blasting and taking out battle droids. Four Commandos went down as a Hailfire Droid opened fire on them, blowing their bodies into the sea of red sand.

Their slicer was the only one still alive. Nuts ran over to him and pulled off his helmet after his vital signs still showed that his heart was still pumping, while he called for a medevac. Pulling off the wounded Commando's helmet, he tried to get the man on his feet. Windu was still fighting off the army of droids, while one of the other Commando squads focused their fire on a line of Super Battle Droids. Nuts was busy snapping his fingers into the Clone Commando's face, who was still staring blankly into the sky.

" _Ner vod_ , can you tell me your name? Come on, don't die on me," Nuts injected the man with a shot of Bacta. The Clone's eyes rolled in his head as he rattle off a string of numbers, while Nuts took his marker out and scribbled a series of numbers onto his forehead. This would allow the surgeons and medics at whatever first aid station to know that the man had been injected with Bacta.

"RC-3222," the Clone mumbled incoherently as a larty landed next to them. The Commandos grabbed their fallen brothers and shoved them on board, as a Clone Trooper jumped off and approached General Windu.

"Sir, I have been ordered to repurpose one of the your units, Bravo Squad, on a special mission. This comes straight from the Chancellor, sir."

Windu demanded to know the details. The Clone was also firing his DC-15 rifle into the wave of enemies. A Trade Federation ship had already been creamed, falling back to the planet's surface. He seemed to want to leave in haste.

"No offense, General. This mission is, according to the Chancellor, on a need-to-know basis, and I don't want to burden you with the details, sir," the Trooper gestured at Bravo to the gunship, which they boarded. He ordered the pilot to quickly get them out of there, as a the impact of the Federation ship slamming back onto the surface kicked up a huge sandstorm, causing the soldiers of both sides to be blanketed, with blaster fire being heard and not seen.

"So what's our mission, _ner vod?_ " Falco questioned the Trooper, who was sitting on the floor of the Gunship next to RC-3222. He looked up at Falco, appearing a bit shell-shocked. He replied that he had no idea, that he was just a messenger and that they would find out for themselves once they got out of the hot zone.

"A pity, if you ask me," the Trooper shrugged his shoulders at the bodies in the Trooper bay of the larty, "Aren't you guys trained for like assassinations and other murky stuff like that? You aren't supposed to be used for frontline roles, right?"

Falco looked out of the bay door at the desert planet. "Too right, brother… It's a damn waste."

* * *

The larty finally touched down at the staging area below another Assault Ship. Battalions of Clones streamed about, ignoring Bravo as the Trooper led them to a tent that was reserved for them. He told them that they were to wait until their advisor arrived with their mission details, and to help themselves to the caf at the side of the room while they waited.

As soon as he left, Nuts took a packet out of his bag and started to stuff more of the warra nuts in his face. Falco put his helmet on the table in front of him and closed his eyes, trying to rest. Hoffer hummed to himself as he lounged on one of the chairs, kicking up his feet on the table next to Falco's head, annoying the man slightly. Cryer was the only one who continued to sit in his chair with his helmet on, apparently not moving. He was, however, listening to some music that Skirata had "requisitioned" from Jango during their years on Tipoca City.

Ten minutes passed by quickly. As the tent was not soundproof, they heard from the outside that rumor was Jango was dead, and that the General they followed into combat had topped him. Bravo felt no sympathy for the man. He had given his genes to be used by the Republic, forcing all of them to be part of a huge slave army. The tent flap opened, followed by a figure entering the room.

Initially, Hoffer thought that the woman was a nurse or medic or something like that. It wasn't until he saw the stripes on her chest when all of Bravo bolted to his feet to offer a salute. She was blonde, taller than average height, and had a slim build. Hoffer had no idea how to react to her, as the only females he had ever met was the Tipoca City Kaminoans.

"All of you, sit down and pay attention," she gestured for them to sit down in their seats, "my name and rank is Kofer, Major, Republic Intelligence."

"Wasn't…aware…that we have…an Intelligence unit with…mongrels, ma'am, no offense," Nuts offered in between munches. Falco glared at him from across the table, causing him to fold the pack back into one of his pouches. Only Clones called officers mongrels in their private time, not directly in front of them.

"None taken," she stated as she swept a stray hair behind her ear, "It was just created, Nuts, and I volunteered. So let's cut the chit chat and talk business, shall we?"

Kofer set a hologram projector in the middle of the table. "By the way, anyone who talks about this Operation beyond these four…tent walls will be deemed a traitor to the Republic. As you all know, the punishment for treason is death. So please, don't give me extra work to do," she warned them.

Falco leaned forward in his seat, clearly a bit annoyed with her. "Ma'am, you pulled us off the battlefield. Four of our brothers, our _company_ brothers, are dead. So please tell me, without a reasonable doubt, why in the galaxy's _shebs_ did you pull us out?"

Kofer stared at Falco and Falco stared right back at her. She, like nearly everyone in the galaxy besides the _Cuy'val_ _Dar,_ had never worked with Clones before. She just calmly flicked on the projector, causing a huge tower to appear in the room. Hoffer had seen similar structures like this before when they first touched down on Geonosis.

"This, gentlemen, is the spire located to the north-east of the battlefield, behind enemy lines. You're mission is simple. You are to enter the spire and retrieve this datadsk." An image of a datadisk popped up on display. "It contains classified information that the Chancellor thinks can end the war. You are not to look inside the data on this datadisk."

Kofer pressed another few buttons, which showed images of what appeared to be some sort of Geonosian. "The datadisk is being carried by this Geonosian. His name is Croggle the Lesser. Don't ask me why these freaks have names like that, I don't want to know too."

She switched off the datadisk, shoving it back into the pouch on her back. She leaned closer to the centre of the table and, looking around as though the walls had ears, whispered, "you're primary objective is the datadisk. You have a secondary objective, however: Elimiate Croggle the Lesser. We believe that he plays an important part of the Geonosian Command, so the area is bound to be heavily guarded. Watch each others' backs."

"You don't have to tell us that, ma'am. We're pod brothers," Cryer proudly stated as he replaced his helmet, "Fett DNA, best of the best."

"I know, Cryer. Fett's dead, however. So it's not exactly best of the best," Kofer bluntly stated as Cryer bristled.

"So, bragging aside, what's this operation called, ma'am? If you don't mind me asking," Falco asked. He had his suspicions about this Kofer. She had never met them before, and he sure as hell had never met her before, but somehow she already knew their names and could distinguish them apart from one another. Maybe… she was forc-. No, that would be impossible. The Jedi Council would have picked her up already.

Kofer stood up and started to walk towards the tent flaps. She paused and turned to look at Bravo, whom were all staring back at her. She wanted to laugh, seeing these boys looking at her as though she was some sort of spook, which she _was._ She started to gain a sense of respect for them, being one of the first few in the galaxy.

"This operation is codenamed Takedown. Good luck gentlemen" She left the tent, once again entering the staging ground. She took out her datapad and tapped into the bug that she had left in the room under the table to hear what they were saying. She heard silence, followed by Cryer making a statement that allowed her to let out a grin.

" _Vod_ , she just called us gentlemen. Now that's something I never thought I would be called."

* * *

 _Author's Notes:  
So that kicks off this new series, and it's out a day early.  
Kofer's role in this will be bigger than in Desertion as she advises Bravo. One of the Chapters in this series' will focus on her.  
Also, these Prequel series' will be a lot shorter than Desertion. They will each cover one operation, ending in the Night of Order 66._


	2. Chapter 2: Night Action

_Author's Notes:  
Chapter 2 is finally here. As the Squad advances through the canyon to the Spire, Kofer has some time to think about her past. And as the Squad spots one of their objectives, violence erupts.  
Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm, I only own the laptop this was written on.  
This Fanfic is influenced by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss._

* * *

" _I see the Rules Of Engagement that are being taught to you  
as a load of_ osik. _These are the true R.O.E.s in war: Kill or be killed."_

-Sergeant Vau, _Cuy'val Dar_ , to his Commando Cadets

* * *

 **Date: 22BBY, 3 hours into the Battle of Geonosis**

The larty was skimming the canyon walls as the pilot expertly darted through it. Cryer felt the need to hurl out of the side of the aircraft as the rest of Bravo expertly checked their ropes. They were rappelling out of the larty into the rocks below, before moving to the spire in _an ordered fashion_ , as Kofer had put in.

She was standing with them in the troop bay, watching silently as they triple-checked their gear. The pilot, CT-2914 was busy yacking into the comm, telling them how he had scored the highest in the simulations. Cryer was tempted to smack the man in the back of his head. There would be no more bragging for the pilot if they crashed into the side of the canyon.

"Ok, Bravo. Listen up," Kofer roared over the sound of the bay doors opening up, "we've already detected Geonosians and other life forms in the canyon. They could pose a threat to you, so I suggest you watch out. You're to move up the canyon into the spire, locate Croggle the Lesser and kill the freak. And whatever you do, do not look at the data in the datadisk. Good luck."

The larty began to hover in a pattern over the ground. Without so much as a sound, Cryer leapt out of the bay, his stomach churning as he expertly landed on the ground with the rest of the squad. The larty turned around, blasting off into a holding pattern in the distance. CT-2914 and the Major would stay behind to provide bits of Intelligence and support to the squad.

"Okay, let's start moving out, I wanna be back in time for dinner," Falco ordered the group into an offensive formation, five metre spread as they slowly walked up the canyon.

* * *

CT-2914 left for a walk alone after he landed the larty on the edges of the cliff. He took out a pair of binoculars and looked into the distance. The fighting still hadn't died down, with Clone Troopers and the occasional AT-TE being destroyed. He looked up at a gunship, which was packed with troopers, flying right into the thick of combat. It suddenly exploded into a ball of flame thanks to a Spider droid taking it out.

He paused, lowering the binos. He was still wondering why he was selected for this kriffing mission. He had been busy lounging around in the quarters, intending to get a few minutes of sleep before going out again just as the Major burst into the room and shook him awake, ordering him to prep his gunship. The _Ranger_ was already dirty from flying in and out of combat for one and a half hours, and she didn't seem to complain as she boarded it.

CT-2914 trudged back up the canyon towards the larty. From his position, he spotted the Major sitting on a crate that he had propped up for her. She was wearing her civilian clothing, covered with a bantha jacket that identified her as Rep Intel. CT-2914 knew that she was a spook, and that scared him a little. Always the kriffing women being the fiercest of the bunch, he remembered from a conversation with one of the Mandolorian Sergeants during his meal times.

" _I remember what one of our leaders once said, "you piss off our men, you'll end up with a lot of dead soldiers and maybe a few damaged buildings. But you piss of our women and you'll be feeling the side effects for years to come."_

CT-2914 had gotten the message: Don't mess with any women who work in the military, especially spooks. He already could see her talking to some old guy on the hologram. He was standing up, very skinny and dressed in some thick robe. _More spook stuff, I guess_ was all CT-2914 thought to himself as he busied himself after sitting down in the cockpit. He needed to make sure that the _Ranger_ could hastily extract Bravo from whatever trouble they were going to get themselves into.

* * *

It was already four hours since she had last communicated with Bravo Squad, and nothing had happened since.

Kofer leaned back in the troop bay of the gunship, her head resting on one of its walls. She was stressed out over the troopers, fearing that they were dead. The operation had come directly from the Chancellor himself, not his secretary. As one of his Hands, she knew that the data on the datadisk would affect the fate of the galaxy. Shattering and reshaping the mind was an awesome thought, and one that could possibly change this entire war.

She unscrewed her canteen, which was the last thing given to her by her father before the Jedi had taken her. Since she had access to the data files, Kofer had decided to take a peek at them. Sighing at what she recalled from the data of her first two years with her parents, Kofer decided to take an unwilling path down memory late.

She was born Kofer Morr in the rich palaces of Naboo. Her parents were two of the richest people on the planet. She had read the reports that they willing spoiled her, showering her with gifts ranging from basic toys to her own pet bantha. _Yeah, I was probably the weirdest kid on Naboo,_ she had thought to herself.

Then the Jedi took everything from her. She recalled from what little memory that she had that there were two of them. One was a Rodian, the other a Human. They told her parents her destiny, and her parents willingly gave her up. She gritted her teeth at the thought of a happy couple willing giving up a child to two complete strangers. From then, she grew up in the Temple. Due to conflicting rules with the Jedi Council, however, she left the moment she turned eighteen.

Kofer returned to Naboo and tracked her parents down. When her mother had opened the door to greet her, she saw that they had replaced her with another girl, who looked exactly like her. Blinded by rage, she turned and left her house, her palace, with her mother screaming after Kofer, desperate to get her back. But she did not listen, and instead found herself outside a recruitment office for the Naboo Army.

The first few years on her own were tough, yes, but not as tough when the Trade Federation came storming in. A few years out of the Academy, she had participated in the Battle of Naboo. This is when she first met Senator Palpatine, who felt her presence in the force. She had been described as a pit of revenge, with a hint of compassion.

Palpatine then selected her to be a professional spy for him. Kofer then dropped the name Morr and never bothered to pick up another one, often asking people to use her first name when they addressed her by rank. She became one of his Hands, completing tasks for the Emperor that ranged from blackmail to thieving. She had executed a few criminals over the years, of course. But it was only to criminals and never another person. Now here she was, on the hot planet of Geonosis at thirty, alone with her thoughts.

As her mind drifted back to reality, she wondered whether or not her biological parents thought of her. She was certain that they did, as she had known when she learnt from her several interrogations that guilt haunted a person for an eternity, never letting go. She stretched her arms feeling tired the when she felt a presence entering the troop bay of the larty. CT-2914 was a strange person. From his presence in the Force, she could tell that he was a man who was cocky, but confident at his abilities.

"If you don't mind me, Major, I'm gonna sit in here for the night 'cause it's freezing out there. The last thing I wanna do on a _desert_ planet is freezing to death."

The Clone sat down opposite Kofer, opening a ration pack to eat. It looked like a really gross cube, and she had read reports that Clones were given food that allowed them to excrete minimally. Nuts, on the other hand, stored up his warra nuts and brought them along with him, resulting in his cover being blown several times during training. She felt sorry for the Clones and, as Palpatine said about the hint of compassion in her, threw one of her personal packs of nerf jerky at the pilot, who caught it in mid-air. CT-2914 looked down at it while taking off his helmet to eat, before looking back up at her with a grin on his face.

"You know what, Major? Never let anyone tell you that you're a mongrel officer. You're actually a nice person and I consider you to be one of us Clones," he mumbled out of his mouth as the salty taste of nerf jerky filled his mouth, causing the Clone to let out a soft moan.

Despite the fact that it was dark in the trooper bay, Kofer had to look away from him so that he would not see her blush.

* * *

"Are we there yet?"

"No, Nuts, so shut up and keep moving," Hoffer grunted as he climbed over a ledge with a boost from Nuts before pulling his pod brother up over the edge.

"It's not my kriffing fault that the two _di'kute_ dropped us off twelve kilometres from the objective. I mean, we tangoed with Geonosians in that canyon, including that freak with the ray gun. It's not my fault that I'm grumbling."

"SHHHHHH," they heard Cryer shush them through the comm from a hundred metres ahead of them. They heard him quickly changing attachments on his blaster rifle, probably to the Sniper attachment, knowing him, "I've got a meeting going down up ahead. Be advised, it's him, Croggle the flying bug. He's meeting someone. There's a _shabla_ rock blocking my view."

They heard Falco reporting it into Kofer, who quickly sat up in the seat of the trooper bay, "are you positive it's him, Sergeant?"

"Positive I.D., ma'am. It appears to my brother that the bug is not carrying the datadsk with him, so what's the plan?"

Kofer thought to herself before issuing her orders, "Do not engage Croggle, Falco. Follow him back to the spire and retrieve the datadisk. We cannot afford to let him escape and destroy it."

"Copy that, ma'am, Falco out," Falco cut the link before rambling to his squad, "fierfek, it's gonna be another hour of stalking him, boys. So be prepared to-"

"FIERFEK, SARGE!" they heard Nuts yell through the comlink. Luckily his helmet was soundproof so no one could hear him besides the Squad, "I'm on the East side of the meeting point and you're not gonna believe what I'm seeing."

"Who is he meeting, Nuts? You recognize the _di'kut_?"

"Negative, Falco, but I recognize his armor and insignia," Nuts lowered his DC-17, while Hoffer raised his binos to spot the target, "we got _shabla_ Death Watch on Geonosis, and look, he's holding the damn datadsk. It's in his kriffing hands."

Falco did not hesitate and opened the link to Kofer again, "Ma'am, sorry for interrupting but we've got Mandolorian Death Watch mercs here. We have positive I.D. on the datadisk, request permission to engage, over."

Kofer gestured at CT-2914 to start the engines of the Gunship. He immediately rushed into the cockpit and flicked a few switches, causing the larty to become alive. "Copy that, Sergeant, engage the target. Repeat, engage the target. The Calvary's coming in, E.T.A. fifteen minutes, out." She switched off her comm unit before quickly sliding over to the gunship's armory to haul out the E-Web and its tripod that was kept back there.

Falco flicked his DC's safety off, bringing the iron sights of the weapon up on his Croggle, who had no idea that he was being watched by a man who was about to pop his head open like a melon from a fruit stand.

* * *

"...And you want us to protect this?" Bal Torun could not believe what his eyes were looking at. According to his chrono, the datadisk was protected by a grade five encryption. Even though he had the best slicing system in the galaxy, it would still take another two minutes to unlock.

"Yes, yes. I will pay you a-" Croggle never got to finish his sentence as a bolt of blue went through his forehead. The greenish-yellow blood of the Geonosian splattered all over Torun as he stepped back, hiding behind one of the larger rocks as he pulled out his two DL-44 heavy blaster pistols from their holster. He located the Sniper's position and began to open fire on the target while darting between covers to flank his enemy.

Just as he reached the target, he noticed that there was no one there. He flipped his comlink open, barking for the other two to get out from behind their covers and assist him. The two other Death Watch Mandos, Arlen and Xeng, stepped out and joined him.

"This is the plan, you two: Cover me from the _di'kut_ , I've got to get this out of here." Torun stepped out of behind cover until he heard more fire coming from behind him. Xeng was hit in the groin area, the exposed part between the armor plating, causing him to get killed instantly. Arlen was firing her Verpine shatter rifle at the shadows from where the shot came from, but only appeared to be hitting thin hair. Torun tossed the datadisk at Arlen before activating the Battle Droid Units that Croggle had provided him with. They marched into the clearing, ready to engage any targets. He looked down at Xeng, who was already dead. Torun sighed, knowing that he would have to compensate Xeng's family on Mandolore.

He scanned the surrounding area for his targets, wanting to get revenge for the death of his comrade-in-arms. Just then, his chrono activated, signaling him that it was done. Curiosity overwhelming him, Torun looked down, shocked at the data he saw hidden in the datadisk.

* * *

"Fierfek, that _osik_ went bad quickly, didn't it, Sarge?" Falco heard Cryer mutter from behind him as he slid into position between the rocks.

They had managed to complete their second objective; Croggle would no longer be a problem for the Republic. The problem was that the datadisk had fallen into Death Watch hands. The Squad had heard of the Death Watch from Mij Gilamar, who despised them and often badmouthed them went nobody was looking. They were a force to be contended with, however, being the deadliest Mandalorians out there.

Well, they were the deadliest outside the _Cuy'val Dar_.

The two Mandos were now hiding somewhere in the Canyon, surrounded by the company of Battle Droids that were just activated. It was getting much worse now, and the last thing the Squad wanted to do was die on this kriffing planet in the _shebs_ end of the galaxy.

"All of you, shut up for a second. When there's a wall, there's a will. So let's get that damn datadisk back now, shall we?" Hoffer tried to motivate the rest of Bravo, but it none of them were having it.

"Screw it," Hoffer heard Falco issue an order for an EMP grenade to be brought up immediately. He marked a spot for Hoffer to throw his grenades from. The Demolition Expert had the ability to lob a grenade fifty metres away from his target. He slowly made his way there, careful not to disturb any rocks that might alert his targets. Activating a grenade, he threw it over the cover, detonating and neutralizing half of the enemy droids.

"COVERING FIRE!" Falco bellowed as he charged through the chaos, DCs and other rifles lighting the dark night up. He spotted the two Mandalorians hiding behind some rocks and raised his DC up at one of them, gunning the female down as he turned his attention to the one carrying the datadisk. The Death Watch scum charged at him, activating his jack pack as he ploughed into the Commando. The two wrestled on the ground, punching each other as both were experts in martial arts.

Eventually, however, the blasterfire was defeaned by the roar of a larty overhead. In the trooper bay, Kofer let lose with the E-Web, gunning down lines of Battle Droids and reducing them to nothing but shrapnel. The rest of the Commandos rushed to Falco and the Death Watch scum, pulling him off of the Sergeant and hitting him as though they were some sort of gang. After a few minutes, the larty touched down in a clearing nearby, allowing Kofer to hop out and runover to the squad.

Torun was tied up in mesh tape, which the Sniper held in the air as though it was some sort of trophy. He was struggling to break free, however, and resorted to screaming through his gag at the female surrounded by the two Clones. She gave one of them a sort of signal, before he stepped over to him and brutally kicked him in the face, effectively knocking Torun out.

* * *

"That was oddly satisfying," Nuts said out load as he bent over to search the Mandos body before roaring in delight. He had a pack of warra nuts on him! He immediately reached over and shoved it into his pocket before handing the datadisk over to Kofer, who was talking to Falco as Hoffer was bandaging him up.

"Thank you, Private. Okay people, gather around!" she signaled for the Squad to get closer before bending down, "This is your new objective. You need to get to the Spire and see what Croggle over there was hiding in there. I can't interrogate him, obviously, since half of his brain matters' missing," this triggered a snigger from Nuts who was the one that topped Croggle, " it's my fault anyway, I told you to slot him, so you have to go over and see what his terminal is holding. As for the Death Watch guy, I'll bring him back to base and interrogate him, so you're not gonna have any air support on this op. So, Cryer, carry the scum into the gunship. The rest of you, prepare to move out."

The Squad busied themselves, gathering up the dead Death Watch and dumping them unceremoniously into a grave that was quickly dug. No tombstone was place on top of it, so it became just another shallow grave on Geonosis. As CT-2914 began to lift the _Ranger_ up, Kofer threw something at Falco's feet before the larty reached a high enough altitude to blast off back to base. When Falco bent down to pick it up, he let out a grin beneath his helmet before throwing the packs of Nerf Jerky around Bravo Squad. I. As Falco took a bite out of one of them, he could swear that if Kofer was willing to become their advisor on more of these missions, he could get used to it.

 _How quickly one can change their opinion,_ Kofer thought to herself after feeling Falco's presence in the Force, letting out a quick smile before settling down for the long trip back to the staging area.

* * *

 _Author's Notes:  
Chapter 2 is done. I wanted to flesh out Kofer's character a bit more by giving her a backstory and not leaving her as some sort of pure evil villian, but rather as an anti-hero. And yes, the pilot of the Gunship will go on to become Slick.  
Chapter 3: That's A Big Building will come out sooner or later._


	3. Chapter 3: That's A Big Building

_Author's notes are at the end of the Chapter.  
_ Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm, I only own the laptop this was written on.  
This Fanfic is influenced by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss.

* * *

"When you're going out, make it a good one  
so that the _aruetiise_ will remember your name forever."

-Mandalore the Destroyer

* * *

 **Date: 22BBY, 9 hours into the Battle of Geonosis**

Kofer helped herself to the caf machine located at the side of the viewing room, watching as the Death Watch scum walked back and forth in the tiny four by ten paces room. It was amusing, seeing him sometimes bang the glass in frustration after she had started round one with him an hour ago. Using a bit of the Force, she had managed to pull some information out of him regarding Croggle's Spire, which she had relayed to the Squad.

Sipping on the warm caf, she locked the door to the room before pulling out her private comlink. She activated the first and only name on her call list, as she never had the time for an active social life. Kofer did, however, recall the time she had to dress up to infiltrate a casino on the six-thousandth floor of a skyscraper owned by some gangster. She had managed to complete her objective, it being getting rid of the crime lord by throwing him over the side of the building.

The feed buzzed to life, showing a hologram of Chancellor Palpatine. The man still appeared young, not as old as he would look in a few years time. His eyes had huge bags underneath them, suggesting he was tired after answering all the questions the reporters had thrown at him regarding the Geonosian Campaign. He was leaning back in his chair, his eyes opening when he saw who had contacted him.

"Major, how goes the operation?"

Kofer cleared her throat before answering the question, "quite good, sir. Croggle is no longer a problem for you to worry about. He was trying to get help from a Death Watch mercenary who looked at some of the files. My report in full has been sent to you, with some parts omitted when I reported to the Commando Unit moving in," she paused, a bit nervous when she continued, "sir, what is INHIBITOR? I looked through some of the files as you had given me permission."

The Chancellor visibly bristled and straightened up at the mention of the word. He quickly calmed himself down, but not before Kofer sensed his reaction from across the galaxy. Oh yes, she had harnessed her abilities on her own even after leaving the Jedi Temple. He stared at Kofer's projection in his throne room before quickly addressing her, "I will not answer that question. You are not to discuss the details of this operation or call with anyone outside. Do you understand me?"

Kofer straightened up before replying, "yes, sir." She shut off her comlink before looking back at the glass. Inside the room, the Death Watch mercenary was starting to suffer from dehydration, begging often for a glass of water from the Clone Trooper stationed outside the room. The Trooper, however, simply told him to back off before he stunned him again. Looking a bit sad for what was coming to the merc, Kofer decided it was time for round two as she headed back into the room, this time armed with a baton.

* * *

"Whoa, now that's a big building," Nuts muttered as he stood back to take it all in.

Even though Bravo Squad had spotted the spire the moment they rappelled out of the _Ranger_ , they were still stunned at its size when they stood right in front of it. The doorway alone was large enough for an AT-TE to pass through it without having to squat even further. The Squad didn't have the time to admire the scenery, with Falco ordering Cryer and Nuts to stay behind while he and Hoffer headed to the door with all of the explosives that they could carry. It was at the moment that Falco planted the first charge when Kofer attempted to contact them.

"This is Bravo Squad, Corporal Cryer speaking. How may I be of service?" Cryer sarcastically answered the call while Falco reminded himself to slug him in the guy later on.

"Funny, Cryer. I never pegged you for a comedian. How is your little trip in the Geonosian outback?" came Krofer's response. She had just finished round two with the Mandaloran, who was close to topping himself at this point. She had deliberately poured water all over the floor and forced him to lick it up. By this point, Kofer was exhausted and wanted to go to sleep, but she needed to stay awake in order to see what Bravo found in the spire.

"Oh, it's fun out here. We found ourselves a biiiiiiiggggg house. We're trying to get inside though, Croggle didn't exactly give us the keys to his residence," Cryer humorously continued the banter between them as he heard Hoffer in the background asking Falco if it was red, red, green or red, green, red. Falco just asked why he was the Demolion Expert.

"In all seriousness though, I've got some more information for you. Croggle's data terminal is all the way on the top floor. You have to bypass a lot of floors to get there. The Mandalorian, Torun, said that there was some creepy rooms on the way up, so watch out in there, okay?... I don't want to file more work if you guys die."

"Awww, you'll just miss up when we're gone," Nuts cheerfully replied as Falco and Hoffer ran back, having just finished planting about ten charges on the doors.

"Yeah, I probably will. Good luck, Bravo. Major Kofer out." She cut the link just as Falco approached the two waiting Commandos. He looked at Cryer dead in the face before smashing the muzzle of his DC-17 into his gut, causing the Commando to collapse into the red sand in pain. It hurt a lot getting hit by the butt, but the muzzle always added more insult to injury because it was easier to dodge.

" _Ner vod,_ what was that for?" he winced in pain as Nuts, who was laughing loudly behind his helmet, helped him to his feet.

"For making us look like complete fools in front of the Major," he answered as he lifted the trigger for the explosives, "Fire in the hole!"

The noise of the explosives was so loud that Falco swore he couldn't hear for a second. All he knew was that his HUD had automatically polarized its view so that he couldn't get blinded. He moved in first, DC-17 raised before signaling the rest of the Squad to come up. The centre of the room had a huge hologram projecter, which was currently monitoring the main battle. Falco noted that two Federation ships were lying in the dirt, while nearly every artillery and AT-TE unit was targeting the third.

" _Oya!_ Eat plasma, you stupid Droids! Have some of that!" Nuts yelled from the side of the room while he started to search for stairs to climb before suddenly realizing the obvious, "oh _osik_ , because the Geonosians had wings, they didn't have to build stairs or elevators… so…"

"Yup, _ner vod_ ," Hoffer grunted as he pulled out an ascension cable, "we're gonna have to climb up the kriffing thing."

* * *

CT-2914 was doing his best to clean up the _Ranger_. Fortunately for him, he made it out of the first day on Geonosis alive. _Unfortunately_ for him, the larty had taken some damage when it was up in the air, along with Kofer deciding to begin her interrogation of the guy they had picked up in the trooper bay. The blood was just refusing to come up which made CT-2914 grumble under his breath as he took a mop and made it from point A of the gunship to point B.

He paused when he noticed something on the crate that he had given Kofer to sit on. He bent over and picked it up. 2914 realised that it was Kofer's personal bag, probably chock full of nerf jerky. Being a gentleman as he was, CT-2914 put down the mop and began to search the camp for the Major. He found her in the interrogation room, but the Clone guarding the door said that he could only see what was going on from the viewing room. As he stepped inside, he saw the caf machine and scrambled over quickly to it. It was a while since he had caf and he was kriffing thirsty.

As he pulled the cup closer to the lips, he heard a scream coming from the interrogation room, causing him to spill it all over himself in shock. CT-2914 turned to look through the glass and was shocked by what he saw. The Major, who he had taken for being a nice person, was standing over Torun with the baton, beating him with it. The man was curled up into a fetal ball, which looked funny if you took in the fact that he was a Mandalorian. CT-2914 backed up to the rear of the room, afraid to look through the glass.

After a few minutes, Kofer entered the viewing room, probably to help herself to more caf when she spotted CT-2914 looking at her. Despite the fact that the man had replaced his helmet, she could sense the fear stirring up in him. CT-2914 quickly threw her bag at her, which she caught with some surprise, before loudly stating that he was going back to the _Ranger_ and practically pushed Kofer out of the way as he left the room. The Major just peeked out the doorway at the pilot, who did not look back at her.

* * *

"Okay, which floor is this again?"

The Squad had been climbing the walls of the spire for the last twenty minutes. Falco was sweating bolts under his helmet as he clutched onto his brother's hand, which pulled him over the side. According to the schematics of the Spire that they downloaded from the base, they were on the third floor. The language was written in Geonosian, so he couldn't understand it. As he signaled for them to move into the room up ahead, he flicked on his tac-light after realizing how dark it was in there.

The room was warm, according to his armor's external thermometer. Falco could hear something dripping in the room. He noticed some pods on the ground, causing him to wonder what it was.

"This…place gives me the creeps. What the kriff is that?" Nuts asked as he pointed at some little bug that was crawling up to him. It was about the size of his foot and sat next to it while he looked down at it.

"Looks like we're in a sort of egg chamber of the _shabla_ Geonosians, _vod_ ," came the reply from Hoffer, who quickly changed the magazine on his DC-17. He had heard some noises coming from the roof, but after the battle with the Mandalorians, his helmet became badly damaged, destroying the tactical flashlight on it.

"Awww, it's like a puppy in the holovids," Nuts cheerfully looked down at the baby Geonosian, which started scratching his leg as he kneeled down to stroke it. All of a sudden, it leapt onto him, scratching furiously at his neckline. If it weren't for it being stab-proof, the man would have had his throat slit. The rest of the Squad reacted, with Cryer pulling the bug off him before stomping on it while the others helped up Nuts.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of wings batting from the top of the ceiling. As Falco swung his tac-lamp up to look at them, the Squad became very quiet. There were about thirty Geonosians on the ceiling, all looking down on Bravo. The Squad did not move, and the Geonosians did not move, both wondering who was going to make the first move.

Falco turned to Hoffer, who had switched his blaster attachment to his grenade launcher attachment. He gave Hoffer the signal, causing the man to pull the trigger and launching a grenade straight at the ceiling. The rest of the Squad started to light up the dark egg chamber of the Spire, causing the ceiling to rain body parts as the Geonosians launched an all-out attack to stop the Squad from destroying their eggs.

It was a long firefight, but Bravo triumphed. Cryer did have a scratched arm, though. When a Geonosian managed to lift him up off the ground before throwing him to the side of the room. Nuts immediately patched it up before the rest of the Squad continued their way up the spire. They only had one more floor to climb before they reached the ceiling.

And if the final floor was another birthing chamber, he swore that he was going to kill something.

* * *

Thankfully, the final floor wasn't a birthing chamber but rather Croggle's personal quarters. Hoffer led the way, ensuring that it was clear before walking up to the terminal next to Croggle's big bed. Nuts did not hesistate to run up to and jump on the bed, acting as though he was a five year old before Falco patiently ordered him to slice into the system and Cryer and Hoffer to act as sentries. Falco then opened up a comm channel with the Major, who had just managed to retire to her personal quarters.

"Major? This is Bravo. We're at the top floor of the spire and are slicing into Croggle's data terminal. Nuts said it would take about another thirty seconds, seeing it as a grade two encryption. The _di'kut_ couldn't even get a proper one."

"Copy that, I'm on my way to extract you, give me another twenty minutes to wake up the pilot. I'm afraid he's a bit… nervous after seeing a few of my persuasive techniques," she muttered as she quickly put on her jacket and ran out of the room to the Clone Pilot quarters. There she shook CT-2914 awake, who grumbled under his breath before changing into his armor and starting up the Gunship.

"Okay, Nuts. What do you see?" asked Falco as he walked up to his brother who was hunched over the data terminal.

"Sarge, you're not gonna believe what I'm looking at. This data terminal contains nearly every location of Droid factories across the planet, and look at this," he pointed at another file, "that is the secret file that shows the Christophsis government is being planned to be overthrown by a CIS-sponsored revolution. There's also… this file. I can't break through it, so I set my personal slicing system to brute force its way through."

"Okay, download all the data. Kofer's gonna be here in about…fifteen minutes," he spoke after consulting his tactical display just as the door opened, allowing a panicking Cryer and Hoffer to run back into the room before sealing the door behind them. Cryer removed his helmet, panting as he wiped his face. Hoffer was already trying to find a place to set up a grenade-launching position before turning to Falco.

"There's about a hundred Super Battle Droids out there in the corridor from the birthing chamber. My guess is that there's a dispenser somewhere out there. I am not risking my _gett'se_ being blown off to run out there and switch it off," he quickly added.

Falco considered his options, he looked out the window and clearly the only way out was down. They were pinned against a corner, so there really was only one realistic option in this situation. It was a shame that they didn't bring jetpacks or something to cushion the blow.

"Alright, lads. Let's dig in," Falco ordered as he removed a mine from his backpack and set it up against the wall before pushing Croggle's bed over to make more cover. After doing that, he opened up a comm channel to the Major, seeing as how she was probably the only person that could get them out of this situation.

* * *

Kofer thumped the section of the wall of the trooper bay that was closest to CT-2914's headrest. He was a bit grumpy, having been rudely awakened after the Major had dumped some ice cold water on to his forehead. She started to yell into his bucket, asking him if the _Ranger_ could move any faster. Seeing as how she was usually a nice person, he answered her in the most sarcastic, yet polite form that he could muster up.

"Mi 'lady, if you could please sit back down and relax, your air limousine pilot is doing the best that he kriffing can under the circumstances. If you look out of your left window, you can see the Dward Spider Droid currently attempting to shoot us down. Normally, if there wasn't _somebody_ banging on his headrest, the pilot could probably focus. So please, return to your seat and sit back down."

The Major was having none of that load of bollocks. She just got a call from Falco, who had quite matter-of-factly told her that they could possibly die if she didn't shift her _shebs_ and pull them out. Leaning back in her seat, Kofer did admit she felt like a stranger in the Clone Trooper armor that she had liberated from the armory. As she was just shorter than a Clone and slightly small than one, it was just short of a perfect fit. She was carrying in one hand, a DC-15 Carbine prototype, and in the other a rocket launcher.

She checked the E-Web that she had set up the last time they were on the gunship, knowing that the last time she had headed into action was when the Naboo Army was retaking the cities with the two Jedi that had accompanied them. They hadn't recognized her, but the one with the long hair did look at her as she was departing to another location.

It was too bad that she read the report that Master Qui-Gon Jinn had died from the Sith Lord on the planet.

Something about Bravo Squad attracted her to them. Maybe it was their resolve; maybe it was the fact that they could laugh in the face of danger, which reminded Kofer of one of her old friends before he was killed in the Battle of Naboo. He had been a pilot, following the rest of them up into outer space where he was blown up.

Maybe it was their willingness to accept her as one of their brothers and not act as though she was some stranger from the Republic who was there to butcher them all.

But there was something about Nuts, however, the slicer, that caused a thumping feeling in her heart. She guessed that it was his grade A comedy skills, or the fact that he was one of the more inclined ones to trust her. While she had sensed suspicious feelings from the rest of the team when she first met them, she hadn't sensed anything from Nuts at all, but rather a pool of calmness radiating from him. She suspected he was the gravity of the squad, keeping them sane from the long hours of training and combat.

She paused, wondering where these feelings were coming from. She had never thought of love or anything like that, but rather became so focused on her jobs because the Jedi Council and Palpatine had beaten those feelings out of her. But now, the love was roaring back in her, causing Kofer to feel slightly embarrassed.

For the fest time in forever, Kofer looked down at her feet, praying to the Force or whatever it was that her Commando Squad would make it out alive.

* * *

 _Author's Notes:_  
 _I always planned on Nuts and Kofer to have a sort of relationship which would cause her allegiances to be a bit conflicted.  
Chapter 4 will be the final chapter on Operation Takedown before I move onto Advancing Army._


	4. Chapter 4: Evacuation Point

_Author's Notes:  
Final Chapter on Takedown. Look out for Crooked Politicians and Slaves of War.  
Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm, I only own the laptop this was written on._

* * *

 _"Keep your wits sharp, and your blade sharper."_

\- Mandalore the Destroyer

* * *

Beneath his heavily helmeted head, Nuts was starting to panic a bit. The Super Battle Droids weren't stopping as they slowly advanced into the room, occasionally hitting his armor. He was already selected as the one who the squad will defend to the death as he was carrying the data that Kofer had said could change the fate of the war, but that little to comfort him as he raised his pistol back over his head and pumped four more bolts in the direction of one of the Super Battle Droids, causing it to buckle a bit.

His DC-17 was lying on the ground next to him, a smoldering wreck after it had sustained a direct shot from one of the kriffing droids. His DC-15s pistol was taking its time to recharge, causing him to impatiently flick the weapon's side. Beside him, Falco had taken out his sniper attachment and scoring constant hits on the Droids. He ordered Bravo to focus fire on one droid, destroying its outer shell before finishing it off with a well-placed shot through it's exposed circuits.

They heard a yelp coming from the other side of the room. Lying on the ground, Cryer was curled in a fetal ball, after having taken a direct shot from from a SBD which picked him off the ground before creaming him. The droid would have finished him off if it weren't for Hoffer barging in and pushing the SBD off of him before ramming his muzzle into it and opening fire. Nuts ran over to check on him.

"Sarge, I'm down to my last mag. We've only got two _shabla_ rifles functioning left. I don't think…"

"Stow it, Hoffer," Falco barked from the other side of the room before switching to his pistol, "our pistols still work, which means we can still kick some of their _shebs_!"

The firefight did not let up. Nuts started to lose faith after he heard something rolling in the background. He looked up to see two brown balls rolling towards them. Not wastng any time, he pointed to Hoffer who immediately grabbed two EMP grenades off his belt and lobbed them over his head.

"HEADS UP! Destroyer Droids at twelve o'clock," he blasted before ducking back down behind the cover. The EMP fried all the droids in its immediate radius. There was still only one Destroyer Droid and a few SBDs opening fire on them, causing Hoffer to curse under his breath as he realised he had just used the last few grenades on him. He cursed the quartermaster on the _Prosecutor_ for not supplying them with more ammo before the op.

At that moment, Hoffer realised the air had suddenly gotten very quiet. He looked at Nuts, who held his broken pistol in the air. He looked across the room at Falco, who had been struck in the head by a blaster bolt. The Katarn armor held up against the impact, but Falco had been knocked out cold by the blast. Nuts, as the Squad's medic, attempted to crawl over to him, but promptly darted back when the SBDs opened fire on him. Sensing all hope was lost, he took out the datapad and read through the files after the slicing system had finished. He skimmed through it, shocked at its contents. After finishing, he closed his eyes and waited for the bolt through his head.

The wall of the tower suddenly exploded, followed by a larty zooming in and pounding the SBDs with its' arsenal. CT-2914 was at the controls of the ship, howling with laughter as droid after droid exploded in the hallway. A Trooper jumped out, firing a short weapon that resembled his DC-17 at the droids. The Trooper turned to look at Nuts and Hoffer, being the only two conscious men in the Squad.

"What are you doing? Get the two of them and shove them on board the _Ranger_ now! I need my beauty sleep too, you know?" Kofer ordered them as she climbed back on the _Ranger_ , which was now pointed pependicularly against the door. She continued to use the E-Web to destroy more of the droids as Bravo scrambled back onto the gunship. As a final parting girl, Kofer threw a pack filled with thermal detonators into the room before the doors of the larty slammed shut. The ensuing fire ball was enough for the pilots of the AT-Tes in the distance, who were celebrating as they won the battle, to be able spot it from twelve kilometres away.

They assumed that a Clone Commander had fired at the shots in celebration, any continued to party hard, not noticing the larty barreling away from it back to the RAS _Prosecutor_.

* * *

Kofer pulled the Clone helmet off of her head. She scanned the cargo bay both physically and through the force. Cryer was already up and about, shaking his head while the larty bounced around from some turbulence. He was calm, but clearly a bit shell-shocked. Hoffer was sitting down, appearently calm and listening to some music that sounded an awful lot like… _gimmick_ music? She didn't know. Nuts was both visibly and mentally worried, applying first aid to Falco, who had obtained a nasty bruise on the side of his head. She wanted to reach out and calm him down, but in front of the whole squad, that was the last thing Kofer wanted to do

When the gunship touched down in the hanger bay, the medics that she had called for rushed out to transfer Falco over to the med bay. Hoffer and Cryer followed after him, leaving a slightly furious Nuts behind to report to Kofer while CT-2914 shut the systems of the _Ranger_ down. He stood nervously in front of her, causing her to wonder what she had done until he held out a disk towards her.

"This is the information from Croggle's terminal. It contained some files regarding Christophsis and droid factories on Geonosis," he paused before continuing, "there were also some files that were encrypted very heavily. Since I thought I was going to die up there, I managed to slice into the system and…"

Kofer looked up at Nuts' face, a bit shocked as he started to look down at his feet, "Nuts… I have no idea what to say. You knew the warning I gave you regarding the files."

"I know, ma'am, but seeing that I thought I was going to die that moment so I figured I ought to look inside. You know, take those secrets down wth me if I didn't make it. It was…" he sighed, feeling resigned over his fate, "Look, if you're going to court-martial me and cut off my _gett'se_ , go ahead. I got nothing left to lose anyway."

The two of them stood there for a few seconds, surrounded by a sea of white plastoid. CT-2914 had eavesdropped on the conversation between the two and stayed back, quietly obesrving the two of them. What Kofer said next shocked both of them into next week, seeing as they both knew she reported directly to the Chancellor. After all, CT-2914 had spotted them talking earlier.

"I'm not going to do it," she whispered softly, "you've been to hell and back today. I've been in your shoes before, you know? It happened around the time you were…born, ten years ago in fact," she sighed before looking up into his eyes, "you make me one promise, right here, right now."

"Ooooo…kay?" Nuts was puzzled over what question she was going to ask. If it was about love advice, he would recommend she ask that Alpha ARC Maze, seeing as he was a natural ladiesman-

"Will you do me a favour and protect your brothers? I may need another favour from you guys in the future," she slowly asked Nuts, wondering what kind of a response he would give.

The Commando, feeling relieved that he wasn't going to get slotted, roared with laughter. Kofer started to feel a bit embarrassed as nearly every pair of eyes on the hangar deck were staring at them. She was going to kill Nuts over this, maybe take a pack of his kriffing warra nuts and smash them on the floor.

"No worries, _ner vod,_ I'll get it done," feeling relieved, Nuts decided to joke with her, grabbing her head and headbutted it against his, stunning her slightly," you look nice in that armor by the way," Nuts yelled over his shoulder as he ran off in search of his squadmates. A shocked CT-2914 appeared next to her, handing over his datapad containing his flight logs for her to sign off against. Kofer looked up at his stunned face, before prodding him with questions over what Nuts just did.

"Well, number one: He called you his sister in Mandalorian, and two: he gave you a Mando kiss. It's cause they wear their helmets so they can't make lip contact…" he paused after seeing Kofer looking away, her cheeks flushing into such a red colour that he thought she was going to black out on him from the lack of blood flow to her brain, "…anyway, that's none of my business. Be seeing you around, ma'am."

He looked back down at the datapad that she had signed. Under special remarks she had scrawled a weird phrase on it: Flew like a nutcase, but skills were slick.

The final word caused CT-2914 to, for no good reason, howl like a madman. He was still giggling as he passed the datapad over to the flight deck Captain without saluting him. Feeling annoyed with the breach of military protocol, he passed CT-2914 a mop, ordering him to clean the entire hangar deck from top to bottom.

A few hours later, CT-2914 was still grumbling as he made his way from one flight pad to another, blaming Major Kofer for all of his current problems.

* * *

Torun was slightly angered over what was happening to him. He was currently on a shuttle being escorted by a squad of Clone Troopers to Coruscant, where he would await further interrogation by the blonde woman who had beat him senseless. He sat upright under the watchful gaze of a Clone Trooper. His helmet blocked his eyes, but Torun was a Mandalorian, and he knew that his eyes were trained on him.

Like most Mandalorians, he believed that Fett was a coward who allowed himself to be exploited by the Republic. Torun sighed over the fact. Before he was Death Watch, he followed Fett obediently for most of hs life. Now, however, Mandolorian became a peaceful planet, which is good because it showed strict discipline among the soldiers. Work was hard to come by, so he figured that joining the Death Watch was one way out of it.

Torun started to slouch in his seat, the pain from the beating getting to him. The Clone marched over to him, pushing up and telling him to stay awake. Torun stared back into the T-visor of his helmet. They had a little staring match just as the ship was rocked by blaster fire. The Clones onboard looked at each other before the pilot yelled out a warning that a ship had attached itself to the air lock. They sealed their suits and raised their DC-15s at the airlock, with one Trooper standing next to it. Another pushed Torun down against the floor, telling him not to move and giving him a breather.

The air lock detonated, sucking all the pressure out of the ship. The weight boots of the Clones held them to the ground as four Death Watch mercs entered the ship. Blasterfire was traded, with one of the Death Watch members getting hit. A Clone swung his rifle's butt at one of them, but the Mandalorian grabbed it and shoved it back at him muzzle-first before pulling the trigger. The Death Watch members grabbed their two wounded men while one of them attached explosives to the walls of the ship.

They were in and out in a matter of minutes, being highly trained mercenaries. As the Suwantek ship they were in ejected itself before entering hyperspace, the leader detonated the explosives, erasing all the evidence of their little skirmish in space.

"Torun, you caused enough trouble for us. You gonna tell us the details of your job on Geonosis?" the leader angrily asked Torun, who was getting a shot of Bacta injected into him by another Mando.

"In due time, Vizsla. Right now, just give me a break," he mumbled before he closed his eyes.

* * *

Nuts sat on his bed on the _Prosecutor_ , looking at the pack of warra nuts while he was thinking to himself. Sure, it was just a prank, but still he wondered if the Major had any feelings for him. When he reach the doors connecting the corridors of the ship to the hangar, he had turned around to see CT-2914 explain to her what he just did. He had seen her face turn as red as a fruit. Nuts hoped she wasn't feeling anything for him.

Cryer returned to the bunks with Falco, who had a bandage wrapped around his head. They both took one look at Nuts before giggling as they took their armor off, arranging it neatly on the floor. Even a few minutes later when Hoffer walked in while they were playing a game of sabacc, he looked at the two other Clones before all three burst into laughter, causing a frustrated Nuts to throw his cards down on the table. "Okay, what is it?"

" _vod'ika_ , we heard of your little… prank on the Major from 2419," Cryer snorted out as he tried to hide the dismay caused by his cards, "he said that the moment you left, she darted back to her quarters on the ship with a red face." Nuts walked back to his bunk where he took out a pack of warra nuts and ate them one by one. That's when the squad stopped teasing him. They knew that he usually ate at least three nuts at one go, but when he was nervous about something, he ate them one by one.

Falco sat down next to his pod brother before grabbing his shoulder, "mate, you know she's a spook, right? They're off limits, period. Vau told us that you never trust a spook." He ruffled Nuts' hair affectionately, trying to get the man's attention. Nuts looked as though he was lost, which was unusual for the man who was the smartest among them. Hoffer kicked his feet off the table while he cleaned his replacement DC-17, having ditched his one back in the Spire. As he took it apart, he thought of something before turning towards Nuts.

"You know, she could have chosen to top you over the files which she clearly said don't look through," he gave Nuts a wink, "maybe that's enough of an indication th-"

"Aaand I'm done," Nuts shot to his feet, accidentally hitting Falco in the head in the process. The Bravo leader clutched his swollen temple as he fell back on the bunk, yelping in pain. Nuts darted back out into the corridor, needing a moment to cool his head. He walked up and down the _Prosecutor_ 's hallways. He looked out of one of the viewports, seeing the stars in the black void of space. Why in the galaxy was he starting to start… viewing her that way. It was only about a day since they first met. He sighed, walking around some more.

Maybe it was just… love on the battlefield?

The quarters of the Republic Intelligence Agent was dark. Kofer was trying to get some sleep before the ship departed back to Coruscant when her comlink started to buzz. Sitting up, she activated it while rubbing her eyes. The Chancellor buzzed up on the screen. He looked much more fresh since their last call. He squinted his eyes, trying to scan her hologram for any emotion.

"Major, was the operation successful?"

"Yes, sir. Bravo managed to retrieve data regarding Christophsis and the location of drod factories across the planet. I turned it over to the Captain of this ship, he will discuss with Command over what to do with it. Regarding… INHIBITOR, the Clones never found out what was on the file, it's still secure."

Kofer hoped that the Chancellor couldn't see through her lies. He could feel something that felt like anxiety in her impression in the Force, but assumed that it was just over the safety of herself and the men under her command. There was another thing that was radiating from her. Love? No… impossible. His Hands were trained not to love, in case it got in the way of their mission.

"Very well, return to Coruscant with the datadisk ASAP."

"Yes, sir, Major Kofer out." She shut off the comlink, tossing it back on her table before closing her eyes. As she started to drift off to sleep, someone came knocking on her door. Cursing under her breath for some sleep, Kofer stood up to open the door, only to be greeted by Nuts.

"Yeah, listen, Major. About just now…" He was stuttering his words, indicating embarrassment, "It was just a _shabla_ prank, and nothing was meant over it. Okay? We got that? Okay?" Kofer just looked strangely at him, trying to get a bead of his emotions. He felt slightly embarrassed, of course, along with a hint of love, which slightly shocked her.

She nodded her head, "yeah, sure. It's okay. See you soon." She quickly slammed the door shut and went back to lying on her bunk. She heard Nuts stand outside her door for a long time before his footsteps slowly faded in the distance. Now she couldn't get to sleep, because Nuts had caused her to start thinking about love. Surely she couldn't be falling in love herself. She never gave a care for anyone in the past, parents included. Kofer turned over in bed, trying to get her thoughts together before tiredness overwhelmed her, forcing her to sleep.

* * *

 **Date: 21BBY, 3.5 months after the Battle of Geonosis**

She felt some guilt when she followed Chancellor Palpatine down the stairs into the surgical lab. He had just promoted her to Colonel, after the success of Operation Takedown. She grimaced as she entered the lab, looking at Falco's body and Hoffer sitting in the chair, looking blankly at the wall. Her former colleague from the Naboo Army, Doctor Amari, whispered a few words into the Chancellor's ear.

The Chancellor then gave her the signal, leaving her no choice but to pull her blaster out on Amari. She had a moment's hesitation when she turned to look at Hoffer, thinking about Nuts and Cryer waiting in their quarters for the return of their brothers. They had not been deployed into any combat zones and were getting quite restless. She wanted to force Amari to reverse the process, but she swore duty to the office of the Chancellor, leaving her no choice.

Kofer pulled the trigger, erasing all hope of Hoffer reverting to his normal life.

* * *

 **Date: 21BBY, 5 months after the Battle of Geonosis**

Colonel Kofer leaned back in her chair in Arca Barracks, where she had been attached to the Special Operations Bridge and sometimes acted as an advisor for a few squads. She scanned through the file, regarding a threat against the Senator's life. Her gut was telling her to cobble together a Special Forces squad to go in and neutralize everyone, but she needed to get evidence together first. She also planned to get that guy, CT-2914, because there was no pilot that she trusted more in the Grand Army. Last she heard, he had been transferred over to the _Leveler,_ captained by Gilan Pallaeon. She had met him a few times, and figured he was a good bloke who didn't waste soldiers in combat.

Needing a breath of fresh air, she walked outside along the parade square. From there, she spotted a few Commandos playing some sport, kicking and hitting a sphere as they rammed into one another. Their presence in the force was a completely mixed bag, like any other Clone company. There was a few presences, however, that she could easily identify.

Nuts was down there, apparently trying to get the new guy, RC-1444, integrated into the squad. Falco – Hoffer - was joyfully running after the sphere, trying to beat one of his brothers to it. Cryer, on the other hand, was stoically sitting in the corner staring into the distance, causing her to feel the pain over the fact that she couldn't tell him the truth regarding Falco and Hoffer.

It was then that she saw Nuts looking at her before waving. She let out a small grin as she waved back. It was time, anyway, to hand in her report regarding INHIBITOR. As she walked back to her office, she started to feel conflicted over her allegiance to the Chancellor. Since the start of her career, she had seen the man manipulate and destroy everyone in his path.

All she could do, however, was keep quiet about it until the time was right.

* * *

 _Author's Notes:  
And that concludes Takedown, tune in next time for the afterthoughts.  
See you at Crooked Politicians and Slaves of War._


End file.
